In a battle of undefeated lightweights. Frank Martin needed a late rally and 12th round knockdown to eek 12-round unanimous decision over Artem Harutyunyan at the Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas.
It was a close fight early with Harutyunyan landing some sneaky combinations. It took Martin a few rounds to get going.
In round six, Martin picked up the pace and landed a barrage of punches that opened up a cut on the forehead of Harutyunyan.
In round 12, Martin was applying serious pressure and Harutyunyan had to take a knee. It turns out that Martin won the last four rounds on the judges cards and won by scores of 115-112 twice and 114-113.
Martin landed 167 of 539 punches. Harutyunyan was 117 of 442.
Martin, 135 lbs of Indianapolis is now 18-0. Harutyunyan, 134.6 lbs of Hamburg, GER is 12-1.
“I just knew I wasn’t active enough as I normally am,” said Martin, who won his second fight at The Chelsea in eight months. “I just think my reaction time just wasn’t on point tonight. He definitely was a tough opponent. I wouldn’t say that it was too difficult, it was just my reaction time wasn’t working like it normally does for me. I couldn’t tell you know, just my timing seemed a little off tonight. He was definitely tough. I hit him with some big shots. He stood up, he bounced around in the ring like a ping pong, but he stood tall. I take my hat off to him because he took some big shots.
“I don’t agree,” Harutyunyan said of the decision. “If it’s possible I will fight him again, but if it’s not, not a problem. He’s just a fighter. He’s not Errol Spence. I’m a big fan of Errol Spence. My plan is to be become a world champion, or at least fight for the world title, maybe against Devin Haney or Gervonta Davis. I can go up one weight class, it’s not a problem for me. But I’m so happy to be here and I want to come back.”
On Harutyunyan taking the knee, Martin said, “No, I wasn’t surprised. You know after a while, after I’ve landed so many body shots, I can get to wearing guys down. I didn’t land as many body shots as I normally do, so, you know, he stood in there.”
“He’s a good fighter. But I saw every punch on him,” Harutyunyan said. “The last one my eye got hurt very bad, so that was the point where I had to take a few seconds to recover [on the knockdown]. I think this round was the only round that decided it and gave it to him.”
Elvis Rordiguez Stops Victor Postal in 7
Elvis Rodriguez stopped former world champion Viktor Postal in round seven of their 10-round super lightweight fight.
In round six, Postal began to bleed from his nose. Late in the round, Rodriguez landed a vicious right hook to the head that sent Postal to a knee. Postal was hurt to begin round seven, and Rodriguez sensed it and landed another right hook that sent Postal wobbling to the ropes and the fight was waved off by Celestino Ruiz at 23 seconds.
Rodriguez, 141.8 lbs of Las Angeles is 15-1-1 with 13 knockouts. Postal, 141.6 lbs of Marina del Rey, CA is 31-5.
“For every fight we always have a plan,” Rodriguez said. “Today, maybe it helped a little bit that Freddie trained Postol, but it’s always a plan for a different fighter. This all started in the fifth round. When I hit him, I thought I fractured his nose, then I gave him a nice look in the fifth. So, in the sixth I was going for the kill. I felt I had him from the beginning in the seventh round. I gave him a hook and I saw that he was in trouble. And then the referee stopped the fight. So we knew we had won. I’m ready. I’m ready for a world title. I’ve worked too hard so far. Thank you.”
Freudis Rojas Jr. Stops Diego Sanchez in 7
Freudis Rojas Jr. remained undefeated by stopping Diego Sanchez in round seven of their 10-round welterweight bout.
Rojas dominated the fight and the corner of Sanchez ended the fight at 58 seconds of round seven.
Rojas, 146 lbs of Las Vegas is 11-0 with 11 knockouts. Sanchez, 146.6 lbs of San Diego is 19-3.
“You know this guy was a tough guy. We knew that he was gonna keep putting pressure on,” said Rojas, who was extended past the fourth round for the first time. “I’m glad I got the rounds in because that’s what we need in the pros. The more rounds the better, and I know the fans like that. This was the biggest blessing. Like I said at the press conference, when I found that the news [I would fight on the telecast] I was jumping around like a little girl like with some pom poms, man ‘cause it’s such a blessing. I think this is gonna open a lot more doors for me.”